domestic switchboard

[mxchris69]

hello i recently started doing houses in sydney and i am wondering if anyone knows what the layout of the switchboard should be? i think the load centre is 200mm of the bottom left, but i am not sure about the meters (3 phase), service fuses etc. i looked in the as3000 and the service rules and energy australias website but nothing. thank you.

[nev25]

Why do you want to know??

[mxchris69]

because i am doing a house and i am doing the switchboard and i dont know where to put the service fuses, load centre etc. everything else is fitted off except for the switchboard. and i can't just put it anywhere because the energy australia inspectors will have a cry.

[nev25]

Section 8 of the service and installation rules will tell you all you need to do

If still stuck ring a local inspector he will guide you, that why they get paid the big bucks

[mxchris69]

thank u

[mxchris69]

nah section 8 is alternative sources of supply. section 4 is metering but i can't find the layout only how to wire it. it is like they want us to get a defect.

[mxchris69]

can anyone please help energy australia inspectors are hard to get hold off. someone in here must do new houses in sydney

[patty]

Mate from Memory and I have not worked in Sydney for quite some time the service fuses are to be mounted on the top left hand side/corner of the 600x 600 panel are you using a Hager white panel with the knockouts? if you are its even easier as the Bussman 100LR85 fuse holders are already pre punched and its only a matter of knocking the punchouts with a screwdriver the you will most likely be using a Electronic meter which is mounted just off center of the Panel with the bottom of it being in the center....

Mate all else fail just pull up at a new subdivision in the area with a house almost complete and run up to the M/box and have a look!! easy

[mxchris69]

thanks patty, next time i will use the hager panel i think. do u know if there is a rule to how many mm's the service fuses and load centre are from the corners or it is just so there is enough room to mount the meters or meter (i think the electronic meter has all 3 phases in one but i will have to check that one out)

[NCArcher]

Yes there are rules about minimum distance from the edge of the board, No the meter does not necessarily have all three phases, it depends on the off peak set up and metering required with regard to the ES9 agreement.
Get a copy of the service rules or consult your inspector.
If you have a guess and get it wrong you will have all sorts of hassles when EA or the ASP refuse to connect.

[Big Shed]

I thought only licensed electricians could do this sort of work?

Hate to think I hire a licensed electrician and he has to go on a woodworking forum to ask what the regulations are

[chrisp]

Hate to think I hire a licensed electrician and he has to go on a woodworking forum to ask what the regulations are

Nothing wrong with asking questions - it is a forum after all.

But I do wonder if the responses would have been as obliging if a non-electrician asked

[Big Shed]

Nothing wrong with asking questions - it is a forum after all.

But I do wonder if the responses would have been as obliging if a non-electrician asked

I didn't say there was anything wrong with asking questions, I said it would worry me that a licensed electrician I hired would have to ask those questions, particularly on a woodworking forum.

And, yes, I agree with you that the tone of the answers is somewhat different from the more prevalent "don't even think you can know anything about electricity, we licensed electricians know best" kind of attitude.

[chrisp]

Big Shed,

I'm wasn't intending to have a go at you or your post. It was hard to pass up the opportunity to bounce off your post to point out the apparent double standards in some of the other responses

[Big Shed]

Big Shed,

I'm wasn't intending to have a go at you or your post. It was hard to pass up the opportunity to bounce off your post to point out the apparent double standards in some of the other responses

I didn't take your reply as "having a go at me", far from it. I just thought I would reinforce both mine, and yours, disquiet at both the questions and the obvious double standards on display here.

I can just imagine the exchange between the electrician who made a botch of the installation of the switchboard and the electrical inspector:

Inspector: Why on earth did you make such a mess of this switchboard?

Electrician: Joe Bloggs on the woodworking forum told me to do it that way!

Inspector: and is Joe Bloggs qualified to give such advice?

Electrician: well he said he was........

Inspector: but then again he may have been a bricklayer or a butcher............

(no disrespect here to bricklayers or butchers, some of my best friends.........)

What a farce


The sad part is that it will be the poor long suffering customer who will foot the bill.